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TRP: Goro and Mishka (Sparring)
Coyote: at 8:08 PM AND GORO: Scene start. Takes place directly after the Mishka/Hansel scene where they exchange the bead and the locket. Well, that had gone better than expected. But Mishka was still tense. He cast around the deck for someone-- anyone-- and couldn't decide who to pick. Turtle Kid? Nah, he'd probably hate sparring. Mysterious Elf was missing... probably off getting laid, the lucky fucker. The dwarf was new, and Mishka didn't know him yet. Not safe. He headed downstairs and rapped on Goro's door. "Hey, fucker," he said. "Come spar with me." Then he winced. Goro probably wasn't in the mood for it. He still couldn't read the kid at all, but something was clearly wrong there, which made Mishka feel... oddly guilty. He was doing something wrong. He just wasn't sure what it was, yet. Lina: at 8:13 PM Goro looked up from the notes he was writing and frowned at his door. Was Mishka drunk again, or what? Seemed too early for it, but hell, if anyone deserved to drink their pain away 24 hours a day, it was probably Mishka. And Hansel. And Raef. And himself, if he drank. Fuck, man, this crew. That said, drunken sparring just didn't sound safe. Tsk, tsk, Mishka. Goro went to the door and unlocked it--just the one lock, since he was awake and everything--and leaned out. "You been drinking?" Coyote: at 8:16 PM "Not yet," Mishka. "Come hit me a bit and I'll hit you back. Fair fight, no magic. I'm tense and my husband won't fuck me. Come help me blow off some steam." Lina: at 8:41 PM "Wait, you mean like... with swords, right? That kind of sparring?" Coyote: at 8:42 PM Mishka raised his eyebrows delicately. He leaned against the wall next to the doorway. "Is there another kind of sparring?" Lina: at 8:47 PM Goro felt his face warming. Ah, fuck, he thought he'd moved past that, as far as Mishka was concerned. Someday, he was just gonna have to grow the fuck up. Mishka wasn't even thinking of that, clearly. "Nah. But uh, yeah. Good ol' distract-you-from-your-husband Goro, that's me. Nice to know I'm good for something after all. Hey, so, I can do a rapier, but I don't have any handy. Left most of my weapons back at the guild headquarters. You got an extra?" Coyote: at 8:52 PM Mishka stopped. Straightened a little. Ah, fuck. Maybe that was it. He replayed the night they'd played chess for the first time, which was the first time Goro had gotten weird. And... when Goro had offered him a bottle of wine, and Mishka had said that Hansel was gone and asked Goro to help him with the whole 'panic attack' thing. And when Goro asked him about the kiss, and Mishka said I was fucked up, and I missed my husband. Ah, shit. He had been a dick. Repeatedly. "Hansel's not my husband," he said automatically. Ah, shit. Shit. He'd called Hansel his husband first, just thirty seconds ago. After explicitly telling Hansel not to use that word anymore. Shit. Blunt. Okay. He'd just say that, and say sorry, and that hadn't been what he'd meant. "Yeah, I have a rapier you can use," he said. God damn it. Lina: at 8:58 PM "Uh." The fuck? Did he have some other husband who was refusing to sleep with him? Frankly, that was not a hole Goro wanted to look too deeply into. "Alright, let's get to it, then." He shut his door and locked it behind him. He tucked the key in his pocket, then patted it and all the rest down--he hadn't sewn them all shut yet on the clothes he had on. Coyote: at 8:59 PM “By the way, I’m sure you’re useful for a lot of things,” Mishka said. “Maybe you just need to try a few more things, get some more experience.” Ah, god damn it. That wasn’t an apology, that was more flirting. Fuck. (Why was he patting down his clothes? Oh. Oh. The vials, right. Jonn. God.) Lina: at 9:01 PM Goro snorted. "Well, you'd know, old man." Coyote: at 9:06 PM Mishka stopped walking down the hallway, stock-still, outrage clearly displaying on his face. "You know, when you factor in elven aging, technically I'm younger than--" Actually no, he wasn't sure about that. "Well, I'm sure you could still teach me a few--" No, that was a compliment, and also more flirting. "Well, get ready, because I'm about to show you," he said. Then he remembered something. "Ah, shit. I broke my rapier when the sea troll... Nevermind. That thing. That happened." Pinch. "I broke my spare rapier in its chest. Maybe, ah. We could fight with something else? Or you could use a mace and I could use a rapier. Doesn't have to be the same weapon." Lina: at 9:13 PM Ooh, so Mishka was genuinely sensitive about his age. Interesting thing to note. Goro thought over his offer. He had knives handy, but knife fighting and sword fighting were completely different animals. There was no finesse to fighting with a knife, no choreographed movements, no fancy footwork. You went for the jugular, and that was it. Carotid if you were really fired up. Windpipe, if you wanted them to suffer. All other techniques in knife fighting were simply to get other body parts out of the way so you could reach the neck. So, not that. "So I'll hold a mace," he said slowly, "and you'll... poke at it?" He was shitty with a mace, honestly. That would not go a long way toward impressing Mishka. Not that he had any need of impressing Mishka. But if Nixie walked by while they were at it, then yeah, that'd be embarrassing. Coyote: at 9:17 PM "Got a spare dagger? I've been wanting to learn how to use a dagger properly. I'm awful at them. You'll have to catch me up. Dagger versus dagger seems fair." This was a lie. Mishka was excellent with daggers. A bit rusty, but excellent. Lina: at 9:25 PM Well, shit. For a second, Goro actually pictured doing it--teaching him to knife fight. Oh, sure, call it a dagger, dress it up pretty. Whatever. It was never something he'd done for fun, or sport. The thought of doing it now... well, it made his heart beat faster, and not in a pleasant way. "I'm no good at it, either. Pity, huh? Hey, maybe you can be the one with the mace. I'll just stand there, and you can swing it at me." Where the fuck had that come from? He sounded like a lunatic now. Coyote: at 9:31 PM Huh. Mishka stopped again, watching him closely. He'd imagined Goro showing him how to grip it, and how to move, and he'd found it funny, and maybe a bit interesting-- and then he'd kick Goro's ass and he'd chuckle about it later. Goro, however, was upset about the idea of fighting with a dagger. And lying about it. For some reason. Ideas: Hansel put Goro in a headlock and made him talk about his feelings, and that seemed to work. Mishka couldn't do a headlock, but he could cast a paralytic spell. Except Goro seemed to fucking hate it, so. Maybe not. He could ask? Nah, that was dumb. "Well, if you don't want to, that's fine," Mishka said, carefully. Lying was a sort've boundary. If a person lied about this shit, they usually had a reason, and it wasn't his business. And he could respect the lie and respect the line. "It's not fun unless you hit back, though." He paused. "Wanna just... fuckin' fistfight? Roll around a bit?" He kept watching Goro. Blatantly. Lina: at 9:37 PM Shit, Mishka saw right through him. Goro was off his game today. The fistfight suggestion, though. His mouth twitched, then spread into a grin. "Yeah. Let's do it." Coyote: at 9:43 PM He went up on deck, pleased when Goro followed him. Miss Basha was hanging around, looking suspicious as hell, as per usual, and Roddy was in the crow's nest. "Hey, Other Tiefling," he said. "Street Kid and I are gonna beat the snot out of each other, but it's fine. It's consensual. We agreed to it." He cracked up to the crow's nest next to Roddy. "Hey Turtle Kid," he said. "I'm gonna fight Goro but it's alright, we're just playing. No murder." Then cracked back down.(edited) Muse: at 9:47 PM Roddy shrieked as all of a sudden Miskha appeared in his sulk-space. And then was gone almost as quickly. What was that- something about fighting Goro? He leaned over the side. "You could warn a guy before popping up right next to him you know!" he yelled. Freakin' Mishka. That was it Roddy was gonna sulk in his room in peace now. WolverjenYesterday at 9:52 PM Other tiefling? Larkin tilted her head at Haeth, giving him an irritated look, but then shrugged.That was probably the jab at her for calling him an annoying piece of shit earlier. She waved at him and Goro. Why not. Worse ways to spend the day. Lina: at 9:52 PM Street Kid? Psh. Not for the last fourteen years, old man. It was still bothering him, the way Mishka said well, if you don't want to. Like he was some kinda chicken. "She's still got six seconds of me, you know. If we were fighting with daggers, she could make me stick you."(edited) Coyote: at 9:57 PM Blunt. He could try blunt. "True. I can't considered that frankly horrifying thought. Good catch." Why did his voice still sound mildly sarcastic? He needed to practice talking like a regular person. "Uh. Thanks, though. For thinking of that. And. Y'know, you don't have to make excuses. You can just... say you don't want to knife fight," Mishka said. "I only asked because I thought it'd be hot. I was lying anyway. I'm pretty fucking good with daggers." Too honest. Too far in the wrong direction. Shit. Maybe Goro would assume he was kidding. Lina: at 10:01 PM Goro squinted at him, his mouth slightly open, trying to make sense of that. He'd lied about being good with daggers... because he thought it'd be hot... if the two of them fought with daggers... "You... you think knife fighting is hot?" Coyote: at 10:05 PM Mishka cleared his throat. He couldn't think of literally anything to say that would make what he just said better. He could try blunt again. No, wait, no, fuck no, that just backfired. Okay, so maybe more honest than usual, but also charismatic, still. He lounged against the door. "Well, no. I thought having you teach me would be hot, and then I could kick your ass, and that would be hot too. I wasn't going to stick you with anything. I mean-- not unless you asked." Maybe that wasn't the best thing to say after realizing knife fighting made Goro uncomfortable. "If you don't want to, though," Mishka said. "That's fine. You made a good point about the, ah, Diva murder thing." Lina: at 10:07 PM Goro nodded along. Yeah, it was all starting to make sense, or something. He felt a little nauseous. "You ever been in a real knife fight, Mishka? I'm just curious." Coyote: at 10:08 PM "Goro, I'm a pirate. I have been in every kind of fight." Lina: at 10:10 PM "Oh, fair. I guess it's a little different when you're ten." Ah, fuck. Yeah, Goro, let's just bring out the childhood trauma, on a nice day like today, when no one asked. He needed to grow the fuck up, alright. Anyway, they'd come up here for a reason. So Goro took a few steps back, turning away, then wheeled around and took a swing at him. Coyote: at 10:35 PM Huh, maybe they shouldn't fight. Maybe they should just sit down and talk about this. Goro probably needed to talk about it if he was accidentally blurting it out. Mishka had calmed down already, honestly. He didn’t need to fistfight anymore. Mishka frowned. "Oh, that's--" He was going to say That's fucked up and do you want to talk about it? And then Goro suddenly spun around and punched him. Hard. In the face. He wasn’t prepared. For any of it. At all. He’d thought he’d known what he was getting into, thought he already knew how this would go, and it didn’t go that way at all, because he’d completely fuckin’ misread everything about this, once again. He tried to duck, too late, and the punch slammed into his jaw. It’d leave a nice bruise there in the morning. It caught his teeth and cut his mouth, and he laughed, delighted. He took a few paces back, letting Goro swing at him. He couldn’t get close. Goro was moving too fast, and too hard. Goro had been right; this was a game to Mishka, and it… wasn’t… to him. This was something harder, and more dangerous. Goro’s eyes were flinty, like rocks. Like he wasn’t even thinking. Moving on instinct. Muscle memory. Mishka got in a few glancing hits. He never managed to get close enough to make it hurt. And Goro kept catching him off-guard, hitting him in the face, the chest. His arms, when Mishka raised his arms to defend himself. More bruises in the morning. It felt fucking good. This was what he wanted. He went low and punched Goro in the gut, trying to knock the wind out of him, but Goro took the hit and just kept fucking going. Gripped Mishka’s arm, twisted him around, slammed him into the ground, using his own weight against him. And held him there, arm twisted behind his back, forced against the deck. Mishka stopped moving, breathing hard. His body ached gloriously from the fight. He laughed. “What in the Nine Hells, kid.” Goro didn’t move. “Goro,” Mishka said raggedly. “Y’gonna let me up?” Six seconds, he thought, heart beating rapidly. Lina: at 11:12 PM Goro blinked around the deck, half blinded by the sun. A seagull glided past the crow's nest, squawking. The bones in his hands ached, and the skin on his knuckles was split and stinging. And Mishka was underneath him, asking if Goro was going to let him up. Goro released him and rolled off, lying on his back, panting. The air smelled clean and fresh and salty, and so unlike stuffy back-alley air that reeked of urine. Goro slid his hands along the deck, trying to get a handle on his surroundings, and was met by the sharp jolt of a splinter driving into his palm. He jumped and cursed. He sat up enough to get a look at Mishka. Mishka, who he'd just beat the shit out of. A bunch of thoughts crowded into his head, the loudest being wand and run, and he wound up listening to both of them, scrambling to his feet and running for the railing but reaching inside his jacket for the foxtail wand along the way. That didn't make any sense. He wasn't going to be able to heal Mishka from twenty feet away. His hands were shaking wildly as he gripped the wand. There was blood on his knuckles, and he wasn't sure whose it was. He was losing his fucking mind. What had he just done? First time he'd been in a fistfight since... who fucking knew. Go back and heal him. Go back and heal him. It wasn't working. He just kept standing there, leaning heavily on the railing, staring down at the endless deep water. Coyote: at 11:20 PM Mishka laughed, sitting up, wiping the blood off his mouth. Then he looked back and saw Goro standing a good two dozen feet away, face pasty yellow, grasping one of his wands. He looked like a cornered animal. Mishka rose his his feet, automatically checking around (Roddy had climbed down the crow's nest and gone below deck sometime during the fight; Larkin still stood suspiciously on the upper deck). Once he was satisfied everything was safe and there was no one around to threatened anyone, he looked back at Goro. He took a few steps closer, leaving ten careful feet between them. Signaling: I'm here and I'll stay away if you want as best he could, simultaneously. "Are you alright, sugar-plum?" Well, obviously not. "D'you... need help?" Lina: at 11:27 PM Goro gripped the wand so tight, he was worried he might break it. He forced himself to release one hand, his left hand, which went straight for the railing and grabbed onto that instead. Weirdly, Mishka sounded... kind, and he was trying his best to look non-threatening, Goro could tell that much. "Why did you let me do that?" Goro said. "Aren't you stronger than me?" Coyote: at 11:29 PM A few more steps. And then he rested his fingers on Goro's arm, the one gripping the railing. Lina: at 11:56 PM Goro's teeth were clenched so tight it was sending shooting pains through his eye. He scanned Mishka up and down compulsively, searching for any signs of a threat, and not finding any, but not trusting his own eyes. He never could, with Mishka. He wanted to fucking run. He was losing his mind. But Mishka was hurt, and Goro had been the one to do it. He had to heal him. He had to heal him anyway, whether it was his fault or not. Whether Mishka was his friend or not. He was a cleric. It was his duty. Not like he'd ever given a shit about duty, but... Amari. It was the principle she followed, and it was what she believed he would do. If Amari were there... ah, that was a good thought. She'd step in between the two of them. "Goro, go take a walk," she'd say, gently of course. When he was younger she did that all the time, send him on walks when he was upset. Somehow she could reach into the middle of a cat fight and lift one of the yowling, spitting demons out of it and move him to safety without getting scratched. That was her real magic. If she were there, Goro could run away and know that Mishka would still be taken care of. She wasn't here. He had to do it himself. But he'd managed to relax enough to raise his right hand, and wave the wand over Mishka's face. He sputtered a laugh, sounding borderline hysterical. "That was easy, wasn't it?" He shoved the wand back in its pocket, hands still shaking a little. November 3, 2018 Coyote: at 12:01 AM "Hey, hey," Mishka said, pushing the offending hand away. "Leave the bruises. I like 'em. That was the whole point. I noticed you flirting with Hansel, so I was going to show him the bruises and tell 'em you beat me. Turn him against you. Just him at first, of course, but then slowly the whole crew, y'know, Turtle Kid, Mysterious Elf-- Nixie--" Lina: at 12:10 AM Goro gripped the railing tighter. He felt like he might throw up. At least he was already in a good spot to do it. Just turn around, and... "Can you--just..." He felt himself shrinking back, the strength going out of his legs. He changed his mind. If Amari were here, he would not leave her alone with Mishka. "Can you..." His voice came out barely more than a whisper, dry and cracked. "Leave me alone." Coyote: at 12:28 AM Huh. That was weird. Normally Goro was a lot sharper towards him. He was being fairly timid now, which— Huh. Mishka had seen this happen a couple times before, with other people. He’d watched it happen in front of him when they were all drunk that night. Goro would be forced into a tense spot and someone would step in to talk to him or put him into a headlock, and then Goro would break down into tears and then admit he had feelings and shit. Let his guard down. Not, uh. Not Mishka, though. He always acted very different around Mishka. He never let his guard down, or break into tears, or any of that. In fact, he acted like a cornered cat with its claws out. And now he was almost timid, like— Like— Oh. Oh fuck. What am I doing wrong, there? he’d asked Hansel, like it wasn’t blindingly obvious. Mishka felt all the color drain from his face. The explosion. And the poisoning. And the constant jokes about murdering Goro’s loved ones, which was a thing Mishka actually had a real reputation for doing. The kiss, where he’d locked up before. Mishka cornering him in the hold where there was no one to hear him scream and acting like he was the wounded party there. The kid was fucking terrified of him, wasn’t he? Fucking—fuck. Fuck. He hadn’t meant to--fuck. Stop fucking with my stepson, Joan had said. She’d seen it. That’s what she’d meant. She didn’t give a fuck if Mishka was flirting with him. And there was nothing to say here to make it better. He couldn’t go over there and put Goro in a headlock and make him cry, because then Goro would be too terrified to push him off. (And he kept thinking about the kiss in the hold, asking Goro if was okay. Assuming Goro would tell him if it wasn’t. Remembered how he, Mikhail Haeth, had threatened to poison Goro and use him against Ripley, his own stepmother. How he’d talked about getting Ripley hanged. Good fucking gods. And then he trapped this kid in the hold and asked him if kissing him was okay. The way Goro froze the first time, and didn’t push Mishka away. Fuck, fuck, fuck.) Mishka felt like throwing up now, too. He couldn’t think of what else to do. So instead, he disappeared with a crack.(edited) Lina: at 12:37 AM Well, at least that had worked. Goro breathed easier, sort of. He didn't really feel any better. What the hell had that been about, with Mishka saying he was going to turn everyone against him? He couldn't even tell if it was a fucking joke. Larkin was still standing up on the quarterdeck, and he thought about going to her, having a laugh with her about it. Like she'd ever buddy up with Mishka. He thought about going to Hansel and saying What the fuck is up with your husband. Or not husband. Whatever. He thought about going to Nixie, and saying something like, If Mishka ever tells you horrible things about me, just check with me first before you believe him, alright? Nah, that sounded suspicious as fuck, and she'd be upset if he tried to explain, and hell, it wasn't like there was any shortage of awful true things about him. Instead of going to talk to anyone, he slid down and sat, back against the railing. Coyote: at 12:40 AM There was a rapid jangling noise from the side. Lina: at 12:41 AM He jumped and whipped around, heart racing. Coyote: at 12:43 AM Nixie stopped a few feet away, then dithered, then flung herself on the ground next to him. She's come from the captain's quarters, which had been shut. The anklets on her feet clinged as she leaned forwards, reaching for his face, but stopping short. Her face was pastel-colored and pale, the fairest pink it'd been. "Goro? What's wrong? What happened? What's wrong with your face?" Lina: at 12:49 AM "What? What is wrong with my face?" He touched it, prodding to see if Mishka had busted his nose or something, and he hadn't noticed. Honestly, he didn't care. Seeing her was better than healing magic. Almost too good; his heart felt too big, like it was pressing painfully against his ribs. Without thinking much about it he lifted a hand for her face, then saw his own bloody knuckles again and pulled it back. Coyote: at 12:50 AM "There's blood on it. But there's not... a cut... or something. Just blood? Like. A... spatter. And Mishka--" She seemed torn. "Mishka said, he said you needed help." Lina: at 12:52 AM "Oh." He rubbed his fingers over his cheeks, and pulled them away to find brown smears. "It's Mishka's blood, I think." Coyote: at 12:52 AM Nixie frowned at him. Lina: at 12:53 AM "He asked me to fistfight with him." Coyote: at 12:54 AM "Oh. And he. Hurt you?" She started patting down his body, checking for the injury. "Or did he-- say something nasty, or make a cruel joke? I've seen him do that before, he can be-- awful, when he doesn't... like someone." Lina: at 12:55 AM He wanted to take her hands and just hold them, but they were all bloody. So he accepted the patting as the closest he would get. "Yeah. Yeah, that's fair." Coyote: at 12:56 AM "Goro," she said, exasperated. "What's wrong? What do you--" She made a strangled noise. She grabbed a handkerchief, wet it in the rain barrel, and brought it back to him, and began wiping the blood off his knuckles and face. "What do you need me to do? What's wrong? What's wrong?" Lina: at 1:01 AM "Nothing's... wrong." Oh, he really didn't like lying to her. "I don't know what's wrong. I... don't even know where to start. People shouldn't ask me to fistfight, though, I think I've learned that much." He could feel all his usual objections lining up, ready to march out. You should stay away from me. You have no idea just how awful I am. You're too good for someone like me. Go waste your time on someone who deserves it. He couldn't. He wanted her to stay close to him so bad. He was a greedy, greedy man. "Has Mishka said anything to you about me? Other than... just now." Coyote: at 1:07 AM Nixie sidled close to him. It took some doing, because he was a bit stiff at first. But she wrapped her arms under his arms and hugged him tight, feeling tacky blood on his shirt stick to her clothing. She clung to him and breathed in the way he smelled. "No," she said, voice muffled by his shirt. "I mean. He's talked about you before. He said you were interesting. He said you might help him talk to Ripley, and I said... I said I'd like that, because I wanted to be on the same side as-- you. That's all." Lina: at 1:18 AM He put his arms around her. Fuck, he was weak. It just felt so damn good to hold her. And why she wasn't squirming away from him in revulsion was a mystery, but it was a mystery he was content to investigate another time. "He thinks I'm interesting. Well. I could say the same for him." He dipped his head down and kissed her hair. "I guess him and Joan are friends now, so there's that. Same side. For now." Tell him how much it would upset you if he turned against me, he thought, but hell, the day he tried to manipulate her would be the day he really did throw himself overboard. Coyote: at 1:24 AM Nixie's fingers tightened, a little. "Well," she finally said. "This doesn't seem like a-- a 'for now' thing to me. This seems like a very long... thing to me. He makes up his mind fast, you know. And Hansel. He's made up his mind about that. And Hansel is a Graverunner, right?" Lina: at 1:27 AM Goro smiled, unable to resist. "For now."(edited) Coyote: at 1:30 AM Nixie straightened up, staring at Goro. Fingers digging into his arms. "Well," she said. "We're going to have to keep them, then. I'll work on... on Mishka, and you'll work on Mishka... and we'll work on... Hansel, somehow, and get him to stay, and Hansel will work on Mishka too..." Drat. She wasn't any good at that stuff. She tried so hard, though. "You'll figure it out, and I'll figure my part out." She didn't know what she was going to do if she had to be on a different side than Goro. END Category:Text Roleplay